The present invention relates to a search device and a search system using a keyword(s) for data retrieval, and a method for the same.
In general, a search system is programmed to use a user entered keyword(s) and search command and seek a variety of files for a match or matches to the keyword. A search result relies upon whether a character string matched with the keyword exists in any of the files.
Thus, even if a target file(s) were among the files sought, a fact of no character string exactly matched with the keyword could inhibit further seek to fetch the file. Another fact of no character string very close to but exactly not identical with the keyword in the target file leads to the similar result of no hit.
Hence, the user has to enter some keyword(s) but the previous one(s) for additional search to retrieve the target file. This reentry of the keyword may sometimes work well to obtain the target file, but if not, or when no appropriate alternative keyword springs up to the user's mind, this becomes a bothering and time-consuming task.
In order to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art search system, an improved system has been proposed which is automated in revising a user-entered keyword(s) to repeat the search again. For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-110393 teaches the improved search system where part of the keyword is replaced with some other character string or deleted to perform the automated repeat of the search. Another example is the search system proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H09-269952 where the keyword entered is divided into a plurality of words, and those words are separately used to repeat the search again.
With these improved search systems, however, it is often the case that the user fails to obtain a retrieved file containing target information, and they cannot be perfect solutions to the aforementioned disadvantages.